Muscles are Mandatory…

Being in good physical shape reduces a person’s risk of dying not only from cancer but heart disease and other causes as well.

Truth is, studies reveal that inactive people are nearly three times more likely to die of premature and preventable disease.

Muscles are mandatory…if they were not the body would not be laced with them. So, they must be kept strong and healthy if they are to do their job correctly.

Muscles are the only tissue in the body that contract and therefore have the ability to move other parts of the body.

Each muscle is composed of blood vessels, tendons, nerves, and skeletal muscle tissue. They are attached to the body’s skeletal system and whose primary job is to be responsible for the movement of our bodies. There are about 700 named muscles that make up nearly ½ a person’s body weight.

Muscles can be broken down into three primary types of muscles, smooth, skeletal and cardiac.

Some of the strongest and most important muscles in our bodies are found in the heart and digestive organs. The job of these types of muscles is movement of substances from one part of the body to another such as blood or food.

Visceral or smooth muscles is found inside organs and intestines as well as blood vessels.

Skeletal muscles are rarely loners. They normally work in groups to achieve movement in the body…especially precise movements. They bare the only voluntary muscle tissue in the body that is controlled consciously.

Every physical action that is performed consciously such as walking or talking requires the use of skeletal muscles but muscles do much more than just control movement…a secondary function of muscles is to maintain correct posture and body position. In fact, muscles related to posture sport the greatest endurance of all muscles in the body. Think about it…they can actually hold up the body the entire day without getting tired.

Muscles also work to generate body heat. Many small muscle contractions within the body produce natural body heat. When our exertion is beyond normal the extra muscle contractions cause a rise in body temperature eventually causes you to sweat.

The agonist or prime mover is the muscle that produces any particular movement of the body. It always pairs with an antagonist muscles which provides the opposite effect on the same bones.

Synergists are other muscles that help stabilize a movement and reduce extraneous movements. You can normally locate them near the agonist muscle and they often connect to the same bone.

Muscles are definitely created to be the body’s workhorse…assisting in lifting heavy objects as well as controlling our sitting, standing, eating, talking, walking and other daily functions and without a doubt, the most common symptom or sign of muscle disorder is weakness.

Muscles are behind every movement you make and if you quit giving your body signals that it needs to keep moving it eventually stops.

You don’t need a gym to keep your muscles strong…for most people that’s just a weak excuse. Activities like sit-ups, push-ups, squats, lunges, lifting weights and any type of resistance exercise using bands or other tools are perfect and send the signal that your muscles are still active and needed.